My Lagan Love

Day 13 of the A to Z challenge and the letter M ... and also one in my series about old songs ....

Where Lagan streams sing lullaby

There blows a lily fair

The twilight gleam is in her eye

and the night is in her hair

and like a lovesick lenashee*,

she hath my heart in thrall

nor life I own, nor liberty

For love is lord of all

Have a listen to  My Lagan Love

One of my all time favourite Irish songs, My Lagan Love was written by Joseph Campbell (no relation) (1879 - 1944), also known as Seosaimh MacCathmhaoil or Joseph MacCahill.  He came from Belfast and his grandparents came from the Irish speaking region of Flurrybridge in South Armagh (source Wikepedia). In the early 20th century he started collecting songs along with Herbert Hughes and in 1904 came across the melody to which he put these words.  Joseph started the first Irish College in America after spending years in prison in the Curragh after the 1916 rebellion.   A wonderful documentary about his life was recently shown on TG4 here.

And often when the beetle's horn

Hath lulled the eve to sleep

I steal unto her shieling lorn

And thru the dooring peep.

There on the cricket's singing stone,

She spares the bogwood fire,

And hums in sad sweet undertone

The songs of heart's desire.

I've been singing this song from the year dot ….(I recorded it for the TV series Songbirds and it's  on my CD "Farewell To Cold Winter") …. it was a regular piece in feises and I won a few trophies for it … but the older I get, the harder the song is to sing….  I'm including lyrics at the end here that I found when researching this song ... and although I've often heard and sung a third verse, until recently have never seen the verse about the barge …. so I've added it on with a variation on the 3rd and 4th verse if that makes any sense!!!

*For clarity … a lenashee is a type of fairy - it should be written leanaun sidhe ..

Her welcome, like her love for me,

Is from her heart within:

Her warm kiss is  felicity 

That knows no taint or  sin

When she was only fairy-high

Her gentle mother died;

But true love keeps her memory warm

By Lagan's silver side.

The Lagan of the song, I was always told, was actually a stream in East Donegal rather than the river Lagan in Belfast. However the inclusion of this extra verse very firmly locates it on the River Lagan in Belfast - Lambeg is between Lisburn and Belfast and Drum was  a lock on the canal there.

The English is of a style that was much in use at the start of the 20th century … very flowery and with lots of references to mythology … an attempt at gaelicising the English that was in use at the time.  Both Herbert Hughes and Joseph Campbell were leading lights in the Gaelic Revival - an attempt to bring back Irish culture.   In fact Joseph's name was a gaelicisation of Joseph Campbell, rather than the other way around and the confusion over Joseph MacCahill was another anglicisation of the Irish name!   Confusing or what!!   Whichever, the language, for me, always added greatly to the mystery of this song coupled with the beautiful air which makes me think of turf fires and boggy landscapes.  

There are many great versions of My Lagan Love …both as written and with new words ....  the gypsy singer Margaret Barry was recorded by Ewan McColl in 1956 singing it - listen here.

But the loveliest I've yet found is from Kate Bush - with new lyrics written by her brother … here's a link to the video.

And then several folk artists sang it as "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" which in essence is also the same song, different words..   Here's a link to the wonderful Sandy Denny singing that one.

Here are the alternative lyrics that I found which put a totally different spin on the song .... very interesting ..

Where Lagan streams sing lullaby

There blows a lily fair

The twilight gleam is in her eye

and the night is in her hair

and like a lovesick lenashee*,

she hath my heart in thrall

nor life I own, nor liberty

For love is lord of all

Her father sails a running-barge

'Twixt Leamh-beag and The Druim;

And on the lonely river-marge

She clears his hearth for him.

When she was only fairy-high

Her gentle mother died;

But dew-Love keeps her memory safe

By Lagan's silver side.

And often when the beetle's horn

Hath lulled the eve to sleep

I steal unto her shieling lorn

And thru the dooring peep.

There on the cricket's singing stone,

She spares the bogwood fire,

And hums in sad sweet undertone

The songs of heart's desire.

Her welcome, like her love for me,
Is from her heart within:
Her warm kiss is
That knows no taint of  sin
And, when I stir my foot to go,
'Tis leaving Love and light
To feel the wind of longing blow
From out the dark of night.

Connemara Cradle Song

Cradle Songs or Lullabies have a great history in Ireland .. and this is one of my favourites. 
Here's my recording of The Connemara Cradle Song  

I was brought up about 4 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean and I used to imagine that if I was really quiet, on windy nights, I could hear the waves.   

Nowadays, we spend a lot of time in Connemara and I've always loved that part of the country.  Here are the lyrics of the song along with some pics from our last trip down in Ballyconneely.

The Connemara Cradle Song (trad) lyrics

The Wild Atlantic Shore

On wings of the wind o'er the dark rolling deep

Angels are coming to watch o'er thy sleep

Angels are coming to watch over thee

So list to the wind coming over the sea

Hear the wind blow dear, hear the wind blow

Lean your head over and hear the wind blow

The Sky Road outside Clifden

 Oh, winds of the night, may your fury be crossed

May no one who's dear to our island be lost

Blow the winds gently, calm be the foam

Shine the light brightly and guide them back home

Hear the wind blow love, hear the wind blow

Lean your head over and hear the wind blow

The sun on the water makes my heart skip a beat

The currachs are sailing way out on the blue
Laden with herring of silvery hue
Silver the herring and silver the sea
And soon there'll be silver for baby and me
Hear the wind blow love, hear the wind blow
Lean your head over and hear the wind blow

Omie Strand

The currachs tomorrow will stand on the shore
And daddy goes sailing, a sailing no more
The nets will be drying, the nets heaven blessed
And safe in my arms dear, contented he'll rest
Hear the wind blow love, hear the wind blow
Lean your head over and hear the wind blow

Low tide

I was really surprised when I was playing over in America that people knew the song and could sing along easily with it - then I found out that it very closely resembles the American song "Down in the Valley"!

It was written by Frances Waller who also wrote the Spinning Wheel ….

And was first recorded by Delia Murphy in 1936.

The Spinning Wheel

For quite a while I've been wanting to write blogs about well known women's Irish songs and here's No. 1 in what will hopefully become a series.

The Spinning Wheel (John Frances Waller)

Listen to : Fil Campbell – The Spinning Wheel
From the TV series - Songbirds - the First Ladies of Irish Song

Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o’er the fire her blind grandmother sitting
Is crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting

When I first learned this as a little girl I pictured this beautiful young girl gazing longingly out of the window, dressed of course in a perfect long skirt, with long hair and an angelic face!!   The old lady was knowingly sitting in the corner  ....   

I can still see the sash window, the moon shining, the wood outside where the young lovers ended up walking ...  Isn't it funny the pictures that stay in  your head with a song:))

Delia Murphy

The Spinning Wheel is one of the most famous Irish folksongs  and was one of the first songs I learned as a child.

The Spinning Wheel was written in the late 1800s by John Frances Waller (1909-1894) and it's said that the melody is actually French, although it quickly became known as an Irish song.   Really, it was a parlour song that was part of the Anglo Irish tradition, nothing at all to do with traditional Irish music, but more to do with an idealised quaint way of life.  It quickly became a favourite for young girls to sing and instantly brings back memories of a gentler way of life.

Well known singers of the song
It was one of the songs recorded by Delia Murphy in her first recording session in 1936, one of the songs that made her a star and she in turn was the person who made the song popular.

Later, it became the first international hit for Mary O'Hara, although she didn't even want to record it.   Delia sang it at her husband's inauguration as the first Irish Ambassador to Australia and she said that if it's sung correctly you should feel the spinning wheel turning.  In our TV series - Songbirds, the First Ladies of Irish Song - it was the only song that we found that had been recorded by all the featured ladies - Ruby Murray, Margaret Barry, Bridie Gallagher, Delia Murphy and Mary O'Hara - and they all sang it in very different styles.

Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o’er the fire her blind grandmother sitting
Is crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting

Eileen a chara I hear someone tapping
Tis the ivy dear mother against the glass flapping
Eily I surely hear someone sighing
Tis the sound mother dear of the autumn winds dying

Merrily cheerily noiselessly whirring
Swings the wheel spins the reel while the foot’s stirring
Sprightly and brightly and airily ringing
Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing

There’s a form at the casement the form of her true love
And he whispers with face bent “I’m waiting for you love
Get up on the stool through the lattice step lightly
And we’ll rove in the grove with the moon shining brightly”

The maid shakes her head on her lip lays her fingers
Steals up from the seat, longs to go and yet lingers
A frightened glance turned on her drowsy grandmother
Puts one foot on the stool spins the wheel with the other

Lazily, easily swings now the wheel round
Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel sound
Noiseless and light through the lattice above her
The maid creeps then leaps to the arms of her lover

Slower and slower and slower the wheel spins
Lower and lower and lower the reel rings
E’er the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving

******
The songwriter: 
John Francis Waller (1810 - 1894) was born in Limerick, educated at Trinity College, Dublin and was called to the Irish Bar in 1833. He became a contributor to and ultimately editor of the Dublin University Magazine, usually writing under the pseudonym of "Jonathan Freke Slingsby"

He published several volumes of poems and also wrote popular songs, including Cushla Ma Chree, The Spinning Wheel and Song of the Glass. He was responsible for the explanatory notes and a life of the author in a new edition of "Gulliver's Travels" written by Dean Jonathan Swift. 

Connected
If you're interested in spinning as an art I found this fascinating blog from a lady in Scotland.

Have you any memories of the song?